


Priorities

by OwlosaurusRex



Category: The Evil Within (Video Game)
Genre: M/M, WIP, college assignment, needs work bruh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-03
Updated: 2015-10-03
Packaged: 2018-04-24 16:06:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,634
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4926154
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OwlosaurusRex/pseuds/OwlosaurusRex
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I wrote this as my first actual short story (as opposed to flash fiction) in my intermediate creative writing class. I don't really like it, honestly, but I have plans to build on it if I ever get the time. It is forever a work in progress.</p><p>EDIT 4/7/16:<br/>I'm replacing the entire text with the final draft of this story that I turned in for my portfolio last semester. I like it better than the original with Cassie.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Priorities

Joseph Oda always kept his phone on. In the nearly ten years that he’d worked as a detective at the KCPD he always had his phone on hand in case he was needed. Even on weekends or holidays when he wasn’t on call he made a habit of being ready for anything. With few friends that spoke to him outside of the office, it wasn’t often that he actually got any of the calls he was anticipating but he would rather err on the side of caution than regret it later. At least, that was his usual attitude. He’d been known to make exceptions on occasion and a muggy July night almost a week after his birthday seemed like just such an occasion.

Richard’s apartment was a spacious one, located near the center of town where space was at a premium and costs skyrocketed with the growing demand, and for once Joseph took the time to appreciate his friend’s generous paycheck when the air conditioning kicked on with a low hum. Cool air blew up from the vent hidden behind the bedside table and Joseph kicked the tangled sheets aside to take full advantage of it while he could. His own apartment was small and stuffy most nights, especially when there wasn’t the luxury of a breeze push the heavy air through his neighborhood, so while he usually didn’t enjoy lingering in Richard’s upscale home for too long he figured it wouldn’t hurt to stay an extra day or so this time around.

The bedroom was a blur of dull paint and darkness when Joseph finally managed to prop himself up against the headboard, and the light from the master suite was as bright smudge across the room accompanied by the sound of running water. Richard was brushing his teeth from the sound of it and Joseph squinted at the nightstand in search of the time glowing in red blocks on a small black alarm clock. Reaching out for it, Joseph paused when he noticed the slightest blue flash in the murky void that was the floor beside the bed. He stared for a few moments before the light came again and he could lean over to grope at discarded clothes and shoes in search of what he realized was his phone silently screaming for attention.

“Richard?”

“Yeah? One second.” Richard’s voice drifted from the bathroom, muffled and distracted, and Joseph sat back on the bed as he waited. He squinted at his phone and managed to unlock it without much problem though reading the screen proved difficult. “What’s that?” Richard’s voice was closer now and Joseph could see the dark shape of his head haloed by the light when he leaned out the bathroom door.

“Where did you put my glasses?”

“Your glasses? They’re on the nightstand.” Joseph frowned and Richard must have noticed because he chuckled at his own mistake and tried again. “Right in front of the lamp. Want me to get them for you?”

“No, I’ve got it,” Joseph said and used the light from his phone as he groped over the nightstand. He found his glasses easily enough and was more than glad to be able to see again.

“Something the matter?”

“Looks like I missed a call.”

“Really?”

Richard was standing at the foot of the bed now and Joseph cast him a passing glance. He was an older man in his early fifties though he didn’t look it. A doctor and a bit of a health nut, Richard Lebowitz was thin with a full head of brown curls and boasted a prominent and slightly crooked nose. He said he broke it during a wrestling match in high school and it hadn’t quite healed right. The thought of such a soft spoken man wrestling was more than a little amusing to Joseph though Richard insisted he was one of the top lightweight wrestlers of his day. Somehow Joseph didn’t doubt it.

“Who decided to call you at two in the morning?”

Joseph looked back down at his phone again; tapping the screen to keep it lit and frowned when he found the answer he was looking for.

“Sebastian…”

“Castellanos? Your partner?” Richard’s mellow tone dipped to one Joseph recognized as annoyance. “What does he want?”

“I’m not sure; he didn’t leave a voicemail…looks like he called over an hour ago. He sent messages too.” Joseph frowned and hastily flipped through the jumbled texts with a growing sense of concern.

Richard stepped around the bed to sit down beside Joseph. “What do they say?”

“I can’t understand a lot of it; honestly…I think he was having car trouble.” Joseph reached over to turn on the lamp as if that might make the messages clearer. “Oh no, he probably wanted a ride and I didn’t hear my phone.”

“Hey, you said yourself that he sent these an hour or so ago, I’m sure he found someone else to help him out,” Richard offered and rested a hand on Joseph’s shoulder in an attempt to comfort him.

“Someone else? Like who?” Joseph couldn’t help the irritation in his voice though it was directed more at himself than his friend. “He doesn’t have anyone else, you know that.”

Joseph shrugged off Richard’s hand and got to his feet to gather up his clothing scattered on the floor.

“I know he’s had some…family troubles, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have anyone. He can’t expect you to take care of him all the time, Joseph.”

“ _Family troubles?_ Is that what you call it?” Joseph flashed him a glare and Richard sighed; already weary of the brewing argument.

“You know what I mean.”

“What I _know_ is that he was asking for help for once and I missed his call.”

“He’s got a phone, Joseph. He could easily call a tow truck or a taxi or any number of people to help him. You took the weekend off, remember? This is supposed to be _your_ time. I thought you told him that.”

Joseph stepped into his pants while he listened to Richard talk and scooped up his remaining clothes to toss them on the bed.

“You did tell him, didn’t you?” Richard asked.

“Yes, I did. I told him I had plans…”

“Then you think he’d know better than to bother you. Listen, you’ve been running on fumes for weeks and now that we both finally got a weekend off you’re going to run off to baby your partner?”

Joseph hesitated.

“How old is he? 43?

“He’s 40 now…”

“Right, a grown man who can handle himself. I know he’s been through a lot the last couple of years but so have you, so just calm down a minute and think about this,” Richard offered and patted the bed beside him.

Joseph paused then, shirt in hand and rubbed at his eyes under his glasses. “Richard…you don’t understand.”

“Don’t I? Well, maybe not the whole situation but I do know that he’s draining you and you don’t deserve that.”

Joseph huffed at that and shrugged on his shirt. “Don’t talk about him like that.”

“You know I don’t mean harm by it, I’m trying to be honest with you. I’m worried that he might be…”

“Be what?” Joseph demanded, feeling tense and narrowing his eyes at Richard who looked calm despite the agitation in his voice.

“Listen, why don’t you just try calling him first, okay?” Richard reached out to catch the front of Joseph’s shirt and tugged him closer to start buttoning it up.

“I will…I just don’t see why you’re so worried about all this. It doesn’t have anything to do with you.”

Richard raised his brows at that. “I suppose not. But I’m not allowed to worry about you? Now, somehow that seems a little ironic.”

Joseph scoffed and stepped away once Richard had finished with his shirt, taking the opportunity to try and call Sebastian. Naturally, his partner didn’t answer.

“Straight to voicemail,” Joseph mumbled.

“So what are you going to do?” Richard arched a brow at him, sitting in the dim room with a certain air of gentle expectation. Joseph thought over his options.

“I should check up on him—“

“Joseph.” Richard sounded disappointed and closed his eyes.

“Like you said, it’s my weekend off so I can use it how I like.”

“Awfully nice of you to bring that up, especially considering how long it took me to find a free weekend for you to use how you like.”

“Was tonight not enough for you?”

“Jesus Christ, Joseph, that’s not what I’m worried about and you know it.” Richard got to his feet then, sounding exasperated. “It’s honestly not about me. It’s late, you haven’t slept much, and you’re going to drive off to god-knows-where looking for that _drunk_ , and that’s just not fair for _you_.”

Gathering up the last of his things, Joseph headed towards the bedroom door while Richard spoke and somehow managed not to snap back at him. He didn’t like arguing, neither of them did which often kept their interesting friendship afloat and problem-free but it seemed that Richard felt particularly strongly about this. Richard followed him down the hall and out into the living room.

“Fine, it’s obvious you’ve made up your mind, Joseph, but could you call me when you find him? At the very least I’d like to know that you make it home safe, okay?”

Joseph looked up from where he was tying his shoes but didn’t answer his question. “Thank you for dinner tonight, Richard. I really appreciated it.”

“Yeah, of course.” Richard crossed his arms over his chest and shook his head. “Happy birthday, Joseph. I hope everything turns out the way you want it to.”

Joseph slung his bag over his shoulder and tried to ignore the slightly bitter undertone in Richard’s voice as he opened the door and left without another word. It wasn’t until he was seated in his car with the air on that he looked at his phone again and turned the volume up.

#

It always amazed Joseph how dark the country nights could be. Twenty minutes out of town and already the constant glow that haloed Krimson City had dissipated, melting into a milky darkness studded with stars and an angled shard of the moon. The road seemed to stretch on forever, guarded by tall pines and a light dusting of quiet homes turned out for the night. It wasn’t often that he drove out this far and didn’t see any reason why his partner would either.

Joseph fumbled with his phone and squinted through the glare of its screen. Mentions of Sebastian’s car, tires, and the lake on the curve of South Marshall road came in increasingly illegible stacks of words that left Joseph with a growing sense of dread. It wasn’t often that Sebastian contacted him, at least not like this, and the stubborn older detective almost _never_ asked for help.  He should have seen the messages sooner.

He told himself there was little reason to worry, that Sebastian Castellanos was a smart man, the senior detective in the homicide unit, and not one to give in to mindless action—when he was sober. A lot could happen in two hours, and while Joseph found little comfort in the uncaring countryside and distracting glow of his cellphone, he clung to the thought that his partner wouldn’t do anything stupid.

#

It was after 3am by the time Joseph wound his way onto Marshall road and followed its rail-less twists and curves towards the only lake he remembered seeing this far out. The reflective yellow signs stood in a long line of arrows that cradled the lake and left little room for error and even less room for Sebastian’s car.

Joseph would have hit the old Crown Vic if he hadn't been paying attention, and was less than pleased to find the car sitting dark and vacant. The headlights of Joseph's car were the only light save for the weak glow of the moon and offered little help, leaving Joseph to rummage through his glove box in search of a flashlight. The small one he managed to find was hardly bigger than a pen but he was in no position to complain.

"Sebastian?" Joseph called out into the darkness before he'd even stepped free of his car. He took a moment to try Sebastian's phone for the third time since he’d left Richard’s apartment and shone the narrow beam of his flashlight into the abandoned car for good measure.

Sebastian was nowhere to be found, his phone left unanswered, and when Joseph took a closer look at the Crown Vic's tires he found little evidence of a flat or any signs of trouble at all. He circled the car twice, checked the doors to find them locked, and leaned against the passenger door with a growing sense of defeat. Sebastian could have easily called someone else or even a cab if he had the money for it, Joseph reminded himself. There was no need to worry.

Time passed slowly on the country road marked by the chirp of insects and frogs around the lake, and Joseph considered calling someone but didn't know who besides Richard. Besides, from where he stood it didn't seem like there was anyone else in the world but him in the early hours of a Sunday morning. Him, the cars, and the faintest smell of cigarette smoke.

He hadn't noticed it at first but the longer he spent running from his thoughts the clearer it became.

"Sebastian?" Joseph called louder this time, shining his flashlight along the shallow ditch and walking closer to the lake. Ultimately he smelled Sebastian before he saw him, the small, red tip of a cigarette nearly impossible to find but the smell of smoke difficult to lose. The smell grew stronger, laced with the wet scent of decay and the even more grotesque fumes of alcohol, as Joseph skirted the lake. He kept the light on the shoreline as he went and came to a stop when he nearly tripped over his partner.

The grass was mostly dry where Sebastian sat, a small vacant patch spotted with cigarette butts and the hallowed husks of crawfish kicked aside by muddy shoes, and it might have been peaceful at one time or another. There was a moment of hesitation before Joseph sat down, doing his best to swipe what debris he could aside and turning off his light before he got a look at things he didn't want to see. There was the tell-tale slosh of a near-empty bottle and Joseph felt sick.

"So, you found me," Sebastian said, his voice a weary rumble.

"Yeah."

"I figured you finally got fed up. I wouldn't have blamed you." There was a pause and Joseph could see the glow of Sebastian's cigarette from the corner of his eye.

"I'm not fed up with you, Seb. Just a little disappointed." Sebastian didn't seem to have a ready response to that and Joseph was content to sit in silence and relief that Sebastian was even there in the first place. For once he didn't feel like pestering his partner about his drinking or his questionable decisions, there was a time and place for that and, looking out at the sparse moonlight reflected on the lake, he didn’t think that this was it. He felt a moment of peace then, brief and fragile as it was, and was reluctant to lose it to the muffled ringing and hum of his phone vibrating and in his coat pocket.

Joseph glanced at it only briefly, caught Richard’s name on the screen and told himself there would be time to talk to him later.

"I've never seen you ignore a message before," Sebastian said and Joseph tucked his phone away quickly to avoid any further distractions.

"I'm not ignoring it."

"Yeah, alright." Sebastian snorted and gave the remaining contents of his bottle a shake before growing still. He was so quiet in the following moments that Joseph began to feel uneasy and tried to make out his partner's face in the gloom.

"It's a pretty lake, don't you think?" Joseph could hear Sebastian move and saw the general sweep of his arm towards the water. "How deep do you think it is?"

"I wouldn't know..."

"Deep enough to sink a car?"

Joseph stared at the water, imagined the dark blue Crown Vic disappearing in its depths, and shivered. Water would bubble up over the steering wheel, lift candy wrappers and cigarettes from the consul, and melt the little picture of Sebastian's daughter he always kept in his glove box. That picture was the last scrap of Lily Sebastian had left after the house fire and losing that and everything else in the cold water and muck where no one could see them would be the worst possible fate Joseph could imagine for his poor friend.

"Sebastian?"

"Hm?"

"I'm sorry it took so long for me to get here."

There was the sound of movement and the heavy smell of smoke as Sebastian turned toward him and Joseph was all the more grateful that they couldn't see each other.

"It's fine."

"No, it's not."

"Whatever. I would have figured it out either way," Sebastian insisted without any real force.

"That's beside the point."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Joseph sighed and pressed a hand to his face, feeling the frames of his glasses dig into the bridge of his nose with the pressure.

"It doesn't matter," he said and brought his knees up to his chest like he had as a boy sitting at the river near his childhood home. The parallel felt odd. He used to escape to the river to get away from his troubles as a kid and yet here he was now at the water’s edge chasing down his fears in pursuit of a friend left drowning in his own misery.

“Sebastian, are you alright?” Joseph wasn’t sure he what kind of answer he expected but he had to ask. He had to help.

Sebastian didn’t respond for a long time and Joseph watched the tip of his cigarette grow dimmer and dimmer with neglect.

“Sebastian?”

“What?”

“What are you doing out here? You said you were going to stay home and work on the Coldridge case this weekend.” Joseph heard the slosh of liquor again and caught the faint glint of the glass bottle in the hazy moonlight.

“What do you think I’m doing?”

“But WHY are you out here, Seb? Driving all the way out here just to drink yourself to death? Or…were you here for the lake?” Joseph wasn’t sure he wanted to know the answer and judging by Sebastian’s silence, he didn’t want to know either.

“I just needed a change of scenery, that’s all. You know that apartment up there…gets pretty cramped…and all that,” Sebastian mumbled and fidgeted a few moments before producing a lighter. The flame was bright and made Joseph flinch but it was brief, just enough to relight Sebastian’s cigarette.

“A change of scenery…”

“Yeah.”

Joseph closed his eyes and focused on the weary tone of his partner’s voice, trying to remember a time two years previous when he didn’t sound so dead inside. A time when they’d have cookouts in the summer and Lily would have Sebastian grinning like a fool.

That little girl had her father wrapped around her finger so tightly that it wasn’t surprising that Sebastian had been burned along with her and left to smolder in the ashes. The house fire had taken everything from the Castellanos family and when Myra decided to leave there wasn’t even a family left behind. Joseph couldn’t begin to imagine what Sebastian went through and continued to face on a daily basis but he had to believe that drinking wasn’t making anything better.

“You know, Myra messaged me last night,” Sebastian said and Joseph nearly missed it, his partner’s voice almost too quiet to hear over the sound of frogs and crickets. “Sent me an email, of all things. Myra Hanson…it’s so weird to see her name like that, ya know?”

Joseph looked up in surprise and squinted to see his partner seated beside him.

“Did she? What did she have to say?”

Sebastian huffed in amusement and for a moment their eyes met somewhat in the gloom. “Nothing. She just wanted something of hers from the old house…but I don’t have it. I don’t think it made it out. I didn’t want to look for it, you know, in all the STUFF from back then, so…” he paused and turned back towards the lake, taking a long drag on his cigarette. “That’s all she said. She said she was looking for something and wanted it by the end of the week. She didn’t even try to pretend like we could have an actual conversation—hell, she didn’t even CALL.” He huffed again and this time it was a sound half between a laugh and a cough. “I don’t have what she wants so I didn’t bother responding.”

“So you needed a change of scenery after that.”

“Yeah.”

“I don’t blame you,” Joseph said and thought he saw Sebastian relax beside him, slumping forward slightly and sighing a thick cloud of smoke.

“Yeah? I bet she’ll be pissed that I ignored her.”

“I bet she will be too, but that’s too bad for her, isn’t it?”

Sebastian chuckled and reached down to put his cigarette out in the dirt. “Yeah, I guess it is. Ya know, I didn’t actually expect you to come out here, Joseph.”

“Then why’d you call me?”

Sebastian paused and there was the sound of something wet splattering on the ground as he poured out the last of his liquor in the grass beside him. “I don’t know.”

“Well, I’m glad you called me…even if I was late.”

The two men sat in silence for a few minutes more, watching the lake ripple with insects and hungry frogs before thin drops of rain started to fall and disturb the peace.

Joseph rose to his feet with a grunt and brushed off his pants. “Hey, Sebastian, let’s get you home now, okay?” He clicked on his flashlight and stared down at their shoes, both pairs wet and stained.

“Yeah, alright, Joe.”

#

The drive back to Sebastian’s apartment was an excruciating one. Joseph was left to his thoughts while Sebastian sat slumped against the window, a quiet ghost of the man he once was. They’d left Sebastian’s car with no small amount of hesitancy and planned on calling in a favor to have it towed back into the city. But the fate of Sebastian’s old car wasn’t what bothered Joseph.

The image of a drunken Sebastian floating in the lake, of having to pull his car out of the mud, was enough to make Joseph feel ill. It had taken him _hours_ to get there. One night of self-indulgence could have easily ended with the loss of a friend and that realization was a painful one.

In the end it didn’t matter where Joseph had been or what he’d been doing, if Sebastian had wanted to do it then he would have, or at least that’s what Joseph told himself. There was still hope for his partner; he just needed a little help.

Pulling into Sebastian’s parking spot along the cramped city street, Joseph took a few moments to ground himself before reaching out to wake the older man. Though Sebastian was slow to rouse he looked more than eager to roll out of the car and crawl his way up to bed. He stopped however, once the door was open, patted at his pockets and groaned in groaned in exasperation.

“What’s the matter?”

Sebastian squinted at Joseph through the gray morning light and sighed. “Um…well. My keys…”

“Don’t tell me you left them in your car. Sebastian…”

“It’s not a big deal,” Sebastian grumbled but looked embarrassed nonetheless. “You got a spare, dontcha? Let me use that.”

“No, Seb, I gave that to you _last_ time.”

“No shit?” Sebastian looked confused, reddened eyes looking out the window as if searching for another alternative but he wasn’t exactly in tip-top shape at the moment and Joseph doubted his landlord would appreciate being disturbed this early in the morning.

“Here, Seb, why don’t you just come over to my place?”

“What? Nah, I don’t need--”

“What else are you going to do?”

Sebastian groaned again and tossed his hands up in a sloppy shrug. “Sleep on the curb.”

“Very funny. Now shut your door so we can leave. You’re not the only one who hasn’t gotten any sleep.”

“Oh yeah?” Sebastian took two tries to shut the door properly and Joseph was glad he hadn’t managed to get his seatbelt off or it would have taken even longer. “What have _you_ been up to?”

“Well, if you haven’t noticed, I’ve been taking care of a friend all night,” Joseph said wryly and considered which route would be quickest at this point in the morning.

“Yeah, but before that.”

“Huh?”

“What were you doing before that?”

Joseph thought back to Richard and the message he’d ignored earlier before shaking his head.

“Nothing important. Here, Seb, turn on the radio. The second channel.”

Sebastian didn’t move for a while and Joseph could feel his gaze on him but ultimately his drunken partner managed to get the radio on and tuned to a station Joseph knew he would like. After a few minutes of commercials a song began to play, light and quiet. It was an instrumental piece by some pianist or other, he hadn’t quite caught the name before the song started but he liked it and judging by Sebastian’s silence, he did too. It was no big secret to Joseph that Sebastian liked classical music and he liked to use that to his advantage whenever possible. It proved a great means of distracting Sebastian long enough to drive home without encountering an awkward conversation and Joseph was exceedingly grateful for it.

#

 

Stepping into his little studio apartment was a relief and Joseph was quick to wipe his shoes on the rug and discard them by the door. He reached out to steady Sebastian but was careful not to overstep his bounds. Helping Sebastian was a fine art that required a balance between helping and allowing him to make his own mistakes so it became necessary to stand and watch as Sebastian fumbled with his shoes and left a few muddy footprints on his floor leading into the kitchen. The small kitchenette was to his left, the few cupboards and short counter space hugging the corner of the room and cradling his round kitchen table which Sebastian leaned on for support.

Joseph looked up as he heard the soft thud and patter of little feet from further in the cluttered apartment where he could just make out his furniture from the pale light filtering in through his wide windows. He'd left the kitchen light on, but it did little to reach the far end of the narrow space, and he didn't quite have time to reach the light switch before soft, heavy feet pressed to his leg and started pawing in long leisurely strokes. The quiet meow was very demanding.

"Hello, Biscuit. I know, I know, I’ll pet you in a minute." Joseph carefully stepped around the large fluffy gray cat and flicked on the lights. Biscuit, an old cat Joseph had adopted from the pound not more than two years before, was a billowy, assertive presence in his life. The next meow melted into a wide yawn, and Biscuit made certain to stretch out in the middle of the kitchen where she could take up as much space as possible. Joseph sighed, hands on his hips, and watched her needy display.

“Just be patient,” he said and watched her roll over and stretch out all the more, her front paws touching the cupboards and back paws pushing a table leg. He did his best to ignore her and looked to Sebastian who had managed to toss his shoes beside the door and looked dead on his feet.

“Come in, Sebastian.” Joseph nodded at the couch and made sure his partner could shuffle over on his own before turning to get a glass of water and find the Advil buried in his medicine drawer.

When he found what he needed and joined Sebastian in the living area he found that Biscuit wasted no time in taking up residence in Sebastian’s lap.

“Ugh, you’ll get hair all over me,” Sebastian complained, but he scooped her up nonetheless and scratched behind her ears affectionately. Her purring rumbled against his chest, and she butted her head against his shoulder when he stopped petting.

"Such a needy cat! I thought old cats were supposed to mind their own business and sleep all the time,” he huffed and looked up when Joseph offered him the Advil. For a moment Sebastian looked as though he were going to be stubborn and refuse but eventually he resigned to accepting Joseph’s help and took the pills.

“Will you be alright sleeping on the couch?”

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll be fine.”

“I can get more blankets than this if you want—“

“This will be _fine_ , Joseph, really.” Sebastian slid a blue blanket off the back of the couch and tried to roll his eyes at Joseph in a playful manner though he wasn’t quite successful. Biscuit, who seemed convinced that neither of them was going to give her the attention she rightfully deserved, hopped off the couch to resume her spot on the bed beside one of the windows.

Since Joseph’s apartment didn't offer much room all of the furniture, save for the kitchen table, was pressed against either wall to allow for as much open space in the center as possible. All it really accomplished was a sort of aisle way leading to the balcony door, with the couch and bed on one side and his television and desk on the other. Thankfully, he'd managed to save up enough money to buy a small flat screen television so he didn't have one of those old burly monsters eating away at his floor space. The new, sleek addition to his home was much appreciated. He could even fit his coffee table in front of the couch comfortably now which made taking care of his drunk friend much easier.

Joseph sat the glass of water down on the table and watched as Sebastian wiggled his way into a comfortable position on the couch, his legs too long for it so his feet poked over the armrest at the end.

After making sure Sebastian was set, Joseph went to close the curtains and get around sleeping himself.

“Hey, Joe? Don’t worry about the whole lake thing, alright?” Sebastian twisted to look back at Joseph through squinting eyes. “I know how you get. So don’t worry about it, okay?”

“Seb, you can’t just ask me to ignore that when you obviously have some problems--”

“It’s not a problem.”

“You were talking about sinking your car in the lake.”

“I never said that.” Sebastian curled his arms over his chest and Joseph had to take a moment to steady himself.

“Fine, you didn’t say that _exactly_. But what am I supposed to take away from that?”

“Nothing. You’re not supposed to take anything away from that. I needed a ride home so I called you up, that’s it.” Joseph shook his head in frustration and Sebastian hurried on to avoid further argument. “And you showed up so...I guess I owe you one.”

There was a moment’s hesitation, a quiet space in which the two of them recognized the weight of Sebastian’s near thank you and tried not to show how much it meant.

“You don’t owe me anything. Honestly, I’m just glad you got ahold of me in the first place. The last thing I need is to hear that you crashed your car somewhere or...or worse.”

“Well you don’t have to worry about that. I can handle myself.” Sebastian sounded more embarrassed than anything else and Joseph looked away to spare them both the awkwardness.

“Well, either way I’m still glad.”

Sebastian grew quiet and Joseph went back to getting around for bed as the realization of what could have been settled in around them.

“I guess I’m glad too.” Sebastian turned away when Joseph looked at him, and pulled the blanket up higher to partially hide his face. “Anyway, I’m going to sleep. Night Joe.”

Joseph couldn’t help but chuckle a little, eyeing the time on his alarm clock and shaking his head.

“Yeah, goodnight.”

It didn’t take long for Joseph to get settled in bed, Biscuit quickly joining him and taking up most of the pillow with her fluff, but he found it difficult to sleep. His mind felt clogged with heavy concerns and what if’s and offered disturbing images and the things he feared most. He didn’t want to think anymore and certainly didn’t want to worry so he focused on Sebastian’s snoring instead. The sound was annoying but made Joseph smile nonetheless and he glanced over at the couch where he could barely see a tuft of dark hair peeking out from beneath the blankets. His partner really needed the sleep and so did he. So when Joseph set his glasses aside he picked up his phone and scrolled through a few of Richard’s messages without actually reading them, before watched the screen go black as it powered down, left silent for the rest of the day.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, thanks for reading!   
> If you liked this and feel like supporting your favorite neighborhood owl, I've got a tumblr with links to a ko-fi and other stuff~ feel free to come say hi. I might not be actively in the TEW fandom anymore but I'm always up to chat with people.  
> http://owlosaurusrex.tumblr.com/


End file.
